Why do you want to lose weight?

I am already retired. I've been obese for many years but have managed to keep active. My work has always involved lots of physical activity. Now it's harder to keep me from gaining weight. My husband and I want to travel and have an active lifestyle which the health issues from being overweight are putting the brakes on our retirement goals. We would both like to have more energy, less pain, and much better health. We would love to be like your mother MaryJ1959

I want to have a good retirement when I'm done with work in about 10 years. My mother is 83 years old, belongs to a gym and goes M-F every morning and rides her bike there when the weather is nice. She is the oldest gym member and also one of the healthiest. She also has said what you do when you are young will pay off when you are old, and she is right.

I am a physical rehab nurse and most of my patients have never exercised and have had very bad diets. Some are younger than I am, but look and act like they are much older. Many pts are shocked when they find out I became an RN at 50. For many of them it is too late to reinvent themselves because they have so much damage done to vital organs.

At this point in my life my only health problem is obesity, so this is what I am working on for the 50th decade of my life. I am now wearing clothes I have not fit into for 3 years, I can tie my shoes without any problems, I can bend down and pick things off the floor, I can sit on the floor and get up without rolling onto my knees and pulling myself up with the help of furniture. I can climb up into my husband's Jeep. I can, I can, I can....

This is my decade of settings goals for "I can't" and turning them into "I can" . All these goals are S.M.A.R.T. goals because they have to be achievable.

Hi!! I just wanted to let you know I love you just the way you are!!! This process starts with the inside of you. Love you, no matter what size you are. Choose to feel beautiful! Choose to love your face, your shoulders, your entire self! Choose to put better things in your body!!. And my clothes don't fit, either.

I totally wanted to lose weight to live a more authentic Christian experience! I was 36 years old and loved God with all my heart, but I was grotesquely obese and did not admire myself. I wanted to LIVE the abundant life I heard preached about and be able to say I knew about. 2008, I went to NYC to live my American Christmas at Rockafella Center with my TREE. I paid for and reserved ice skating lessons, my first ever! What's more nostalgic than Christmas in NYC at the famed Rockafella Plaza, skating! Well, I got there and the swore I did not have a reservation. I scuffed, I traveled two and a half hours to make that reservation...the clerk told me I would have my lesson in one hour so grab some skates and skate. So I was like great I paid for an hour of instruction and got one hour free....so I skated and loved being able to glide on ice at over 270 lbs. I never fell while skating for an hour! When my instructor came I skated another hour and I loved it! So two hours later I was in love and found myself thinking; "if I could do all that with this body...what would happen if I was in shape....I don't even know what I look like...I got see what I look like before I die....and on and on my private conversation went on. December was my crossroads...January 2009 was my epitome of my fierce, fit, never looking back conquer the obesity mountain of it all....and I did today I stand at another crossroad thank you sparkpeople

Main reason is to get my health back....I think I took being healthy for granted and now as I have gotten older, I realize I need to do right by me! Also, I want to enjoy my family more and I know I have been in "hiding" due to my weight and not living life...turning down many invitations because I was embarrassed as to how overweight I had become.

I want to see pictures of myself and think "damn! looking good!" I'd also like to go to bed thinking something other than "jeez, I wish I hadn't eaten so much today. What is WRONG with me?" I want to see healthy, fit women and feel commeraderie instead of jealousy!

I gained weight due to an illness and now I have to get it off to be healthy again. Actually, I am pretty much back to where I started--a little plump but not really terribly fat.

I want to feel good and look good, but I also want to control the aspects of my body and health that are within my grasp. I have some terrible health problems that are not my fault, but there are other things that I CAN do something about and take responsibility for...so I do.

Good question because it makes you think beyond the 'ought to' and 'need to' and get to the 'want to'. I've already lost about 50lb and discovered that I'm loads more agile and fitter than I was 3 years ago. (Well, that's not difficult as I'd just finished chemo and was half way through radiotherapy 3 years ago, but I'm sure the weight loss helps too!) I also know I look a whole lot better and no longer look in the mirror and see an obese person. I have a lot more confidence too - joining aquafit and getting into a swimming costume was a huge step for me. If I can feel this much better going from 'obese' to 'overweight' I can imagine I'll look and feel a whole lot better still when I lose another 35lb.

I watch Biggest Loser every time it comes on and every episode the one thing that I always see happening is people talk about why they want to lose weight, then whomever is the coach for that person will use that topic to motivate them to exercise and keep pushing.

I have been using this practice for the past month when it comes to picking my food, staying on track and not over indulging. It seems to help me, so I thought it may help others to think about not how much weight you want to lose, but why.

My reason is 2 fold:

1) I have a few people I will be seeing and I want to surprise them with my weight loss. 2) my son. He is an only child and depends on me as his playmate. When I'm too tired or I hear him complain like I do about his legs, it hurts me and i don't want him to think of me as always too tired or in too much pain to play.

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